Bramblepoint Every night my dream’s the same

When Lasher hadn’t made it to Bramblepoint, Peregrine had tasked one of his subordinates with travelling to the coast to inquire with a pack called Donnelaith. Sassafras couldn’t be sure if Peregrine was being just a bit cheeky to send her on the scouting mission now that he knew about what had happened to her the previous year — maybe she wouldn’t make it back to Redhawk Caldera until the following year just to spite him. She knew she had the most to prove of the lot of them, however, and she wasn’t at all disappointed. Instead, she was positively atingle to have an excuse to strike out and see the Wilds.

She herself was in the thick of Bramblepoint when the sun had just begun to set, but she pushed on, hoping to be nearer to its edge by the time she bedded down for some shut-eye. While she felt incredibly free out there alone, she kept in mind that she had a task at hand and a pack to return to when she was finished. It was a fresh innovation, really, that she could feel both unrestricted and secure at once. It was the first time she found herself considering that she might go after a role where she could scout new terrain and chart new paths on the regular.

Her fleeting footfalls were quiet and brisk as she aimed to make progress, but her bright mahogany gaze roved everywhere and her keen nostrils flared with nearly every step forward. The uppermost branches of one gigantic tree overhead were bare of leaves, and she blinked furiously when a dying sunbeam caught her directly in the eye.

He sat among the broken brambles, feeling at ease here for this place was much like his soul. Many parts of it were darkened by foliage, yet there were many parts where light shined through as well. He enjoyed sitting, meditating, philosophing with no one but himself. Presently his mind was on Kendra, whom he hoped would start to feel more accepting of her fate and at ease with it.

It was then that his silence was broken by another, a female who seemed to be as bothered by the sunny patches as he sometimes was. A smile crept across his face; a face still hollow-looking, skeletal almost, for the famine had done him no good and he had always looked thin even before then. An ear flicked forward as he queried from his position a small distance away on a hill, "Looking forward to rainier days?"

Woo, an Iris! Sorry about the wait — I was temporarily work swamped. Won't happen again!

She’d ceased her wild blinking just as the voice of a lanky and interestingly-furred male materialized a stone’s throw away from where she stood. Her hackles rose up in a spiky display of instinct and surprise as she turned, but she tamed them just as quickly when she realized she probably wasn’t being threatened. She tossed her gaze at him blankly for a moment, then laughed warmly as she shifted her feet beneath her to face him properly. "I’m not sure rain would help visibility," she answered good-naturedly while making an amused show of scrunching one eye shut. Even with just one keen eye, she could see that his were rather striking, and with that she promptly unscrunched, wagged her tail amicably, and smiled at him.

"Nah," she decidedly added after a short pause, "I’ll take anything aside from locusts." While much of her own weight had been regained, it was easy to see that the patchwork grey male hadn’t quite bounced back yet. She wondered how other packs had fared in relation to Riverend, where she’d been previously since just before winter had settled in. While they’d happened to do reasonably well for themselves, they hadn’t exactly scraped by without worn-ragged aesthetics, either.

*invades*

With an uneven gait, he prowled through Bramblepoint. He was sure that he would find Lazarus here -- it just made sense. It wasn't far from Moonspear and it was so thick with foliage that it was almost difficult to move through at times. The heavily woven leaves provided ample opportunities for a wolf to hide; hell, Floki decided that if he was ever on the run, he would disappear among the forest's gnarled branches.

He heard voices and honed in on them, his heart in his throat. He was almost upon them when he stopped, realizing that the scents didn't belong to Lazarus -- and, in fact, one was so familiar that it caused him to pause in his tracks. Redhawk Caldera. He gritted his teeth, but it was too late to turn back now.

Emerging from the underbrush, he shifted his gaze between the two dark wolves. One looked healthier than the other, and the thinner one had a coat mottled with splotches of white. They didn't seem to know each other. "Sorry to interrupt," Floki said, ears fanning to the side, "But I'm looking for a white wolf by the name of Lazarus. You haven't seen him, have you?" He hoped that they would say no so that he could melt back into the shadows.

Cicero offered the female a smile as she good-naturedly joked back to him and remained in his spot in the shades of a tree, splotches of light dancing on his patchwork fur. His smile faded into a wry grimace as she mentioned the locusts, which he guessed was due to his emaciated appearance. ”Ah, yes,” he agreed wryly. ”It was not Cicero’s best day, either.”

At that moment a third wolf appeared, and Cicero turned his head towards the newcomer, a wolf he did not recognise. He asked if any of them knew a wolf named Lazarus. Cicero shook his head, for he had not heard of such a wolf. ”Not that Cicero knows. Where is this Lazarus from?” Cicero asked it with a curious lilt to his voice; he considered that way it would be easier to comb his memory, had he a specific place.

Her expression showed a moment of confusion when the patchwork grey male mentioned someone named "Cicero", but brushed it off easily enough with a smile. Had she realized then that he was using his own name, Sassafras might have felt a twinge of embarrassment that her comment had shone a spotlight on the bony physique he hid beneath his striking coat.

When a second male showed up, Sassafras anxiously began to wonder how close she was to encroaching on someone’s territory. Peregrine had given her fairly straightforward directions and she didn’t sense the ordinarily obvious musk of borders, but she had to be sure. She unabashedly stretched out her head and neck as she attempted to catch Floki’s scent on the breeze, then wound up merely curious as she listened to the question he posed. With an apology and ears that he splayed to the side, the strapping young male clearly showed no signs of turning hostile.

"I haven’t, either," she said frankly, glancing towards the small, lanky wolf who had answered first as she realized he must have been referring to himself in third person. It was unusual enough for her to pick up on it immediately and she fumbled with a brief pause. "If I do run into him, though, who should I say was asking? she prompted, quickly enough to save her reaction as she turned her gaze back to the second male.

Both wolves responded in the negative, though questions were returned to Floki. He wondered briefly who Cicero was, not realizing at first that the black and white wolf was referring to himself in the third person, but brushed that thought aside in order to answer their queries. The quicker he shared some information on Lazarus, the quicker he could get back to the search.

"He's from Moonspear. He would be injured, most likely -- he fell from the mountain after attacking our Alpha female. But be careful anyway if you do come across him," he replied, his gaze shifting between the two dark-coated wolves. He settled his focus briefly on the she-wolf's pretty face. "My name is Floki," he added, although he doubted that there would be time for pleasantries if she crossed paths with Lazarus.

His companion asked questions in regards to this Lazarus fellow too, and soon it was confirmed he was not a friend of the greytone wolf. Cicero had thought so before, but he had clearly gauged the situation wrong, he realised, upon hearing that the wolf had attacked this man's Alpha. "Thanks for the warning," Cicero shared, though he wished he could have been of more help.

Upon Floki's introduction, Cicero shared his name, too: "Cicero." He glanced at his other companion, whose name he did not know yet either. He also wondered if this Floki wanted them to contact him should they find this Lazarus wolf, as he had not given out contact information. Yet Cicero did not look like he was going to ask, himself.

Cicero thanked the newly introduced Floki for the information and confirmed her assumption that his name was in fact Cicero. She shot a thin smile at him and wagged her tail briefly before her eyes travelled back to the icy coloured blues of the Moonspear wolf. They didn’t at all match what she could only guess his disposition might be; a guess based only on the camaraderie he seemed to emanate, hurried though he might have been.

She thought for a moment with hackles that bristled slightly at the notion of the violence he described. "Moonspear? I think I know where that is," she said uncertainly as she glanced in the general direction she thought it was. "That way?" she asked, making a tilting motion with her slender muzzle. "If I cross paths with him I can try to let you know on my way back." She was willing to make what was hardly a detour at all if it might help them track the vagrant down. Because the wolf had fallen from a mountain, Sassafras had very little fear of being attacked herself. It occurred to her that she might have some trouble identifying him unless he was truly smashed to bits. The Wilds were a vast place with many a creature waiting in the shadows, if a three-way chance meeting was anything to go by.

"I’m Sassafras," she agreeably offered to both wolves, slighting no one.

My last post! Thanks for letting me intrude! :P

The other male repeated the name "Cicero" again, and Floki realized that was his name -- and that he had been referring to himself in the third person. He blinked, then shifted his attention to the she-wolf as she confirmed the location of Moonspear. He nodded. "Yeah, the tallest mountain in the range back there," he explained, thankful for her willingness to keep an eye out for Lazarus during her own travels.

"Thank you," he said to her, then glanced back at Cicero. "Both of you." There wasn't much else for him to say; normally, he might have made some small talk with Cicero and Sassafras, but there were two things weighing on his mind: the need to find Lazarus, and the wariness that he felt being in such close proximity to a Redhawk Caldera wolf.

"I've gotta keep looking," he added, his tone slightly apologetic. He lowered his muzzle briefly, a nonverbal expression of gratitude, then slipped away into the trees, continuing his search.

Cicero nodded at this Floki character as he announced his departure after each of them had been introduced. He also mentally noted the name of Sassafras. After Floki had left, Cicero said: "It was nice to meet Sassafras." He lingered a moment longer, casting her a smile that might have been charming, had it not been for the emaciated state of Cicero's face. It was nice to have a friendly, moderately uneventful meeting for a change.

After that lingering glance he turned away, departing into the shadows once more unless she would say something to stop him in his tracks.

She and Cicero were thanked and Floki set off on his intended course, sounding somewhat apologetic as he went. Sassafras simply nodded and watched him depart without faulting him for holding true to his responsibilities. Had she been on the trail for Peter’s killer, she wouldn’t have time to linger and shoot the shit either.

It seemed that all three of them were about to disperse, because Cicero signaled his leave as well. She turned back to him with a smile. "It was nice to meet Cicero," she replied with a small dip of her head and a shimmer of her eyes. If she had not had a goal or plan in mind, she might have stopped him to ask what he knew of the area, or dig for information on where his pack was located so as not to make a fool of herself as she navigated the Wilds. Instead, she simply took the chance encounter for what it had been and set off on her own towards the Glen.